IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH AND PERCEIVED QUALITY ON BRAND EQUITY OF DIAGNOSTIC CENTRES WITH MEDIATING ROLE OF BRAND LOYALTY

Abstract

In countries like Pakistan health sectors are spending significant amount of their budgets on branding their hospitals, laboratories, clinics to attract patients. The purpose of this research is to highlight the significance of brand equity along with perceived quality and electronic word of mouth, in terms of brand loyalty of patients to diagnostic center, Lahore Pakistan. Our results indicate that both electronic word of mouth and perceived quality have a significant positive impact on brand equity. Moreover, brand loyalty was found to mediate the relationship between electronic word of mouth, perceived quality, and brand equity. The findings suggest that organizations in the health sector of Punjab, Pakistan should focus on improving their brand marketing practices and promoting brand loyalty to enhance brand equity. Additionally, organizations need to potray a positive electronic word of mouth that supports brand loyalty and effective quality to maximize brand equity. Sustaining the theory of self-congruity. Snowball sampling technique was adopted for the collection of data from sample size of 380 respondents. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique have been used for the analysis and findings shows that electronic word of mouth and perceived quality of health sectors are the significant dimensions of brand equity and brand equity significantly impacts on perceived quality of the patients to get tested from diagnostic center and findings also shows the insignificant mediating effect of brand loyalty on the relationship between diagnostic center equity of brand and perceived quality of the patients to get tested. The outcomes of this study gave researchers, diagnostic scientists and marketers the better understanding of brand equity‟s importance and its key role in promoting the health sectors in country like Pakistan. This is also beneficial for the patients to choose good diagnostics laboratory for health sectors in Pakistan. Keywords: Electronic Word of Mouth, Perceived Quality, Brand Loyalty, Brand Equity, Smart PLS and Structural Equation Modeling